Biography of Ephraim Mays Brevard, Tallahassee, Leon County, FL

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Transcribed from:  The History of Florida:  Past & Present, The Lewis Publishing Co., Vol. 
III, page 140, 1923.

BREVARD, M.D., EPHRAIM MAYS.  A physician and surgeon at Tallahassee for a quarter of a century, 
Doctor BREVARD in his career has added something to the many distinctions associated with his 
family name and ancestry.

The Brevards were foremost representatives of the French Huguenots people in the early settlement 
of North Carolina, and through all the generations the name has been significant of the highest 
order of patriotism and civic integrity.

One of the patriots of North Carolina was EPHRAIM BREVARD, who was born about 1750 and died 
about 1783.  He graduated at Princeton in 1768, studied medicine and practiced at Charlotte, 
and was secretary of the famous Mecklenburg Convention of May 31, 1775, and was one of the 
drafters of the declaration, adopted more than a year before the formal declaration of independence.   
Doctor BREVARD and his six brothers entered the Continental service at the beginning of the 
revolution.  He was taken prisoner in 1780, and when set at liberty was so broken by disease 
incurred during this confinement that he died soon afterward.  He was one of the most accomplished 
men of his time and exerted a powerful influence in the House of Independence.

A brother of Dr. EPHRAIM BREVARD was Capt. ALEXANDER BREVARD, the direct ancestor of Doctor 
BREVARD of Tallahassee.  Capt. ALEXANDER BREVARD served as a revolutionary soldier and participated 
in several battles,  His son Judge THEODORE W. BREVARD, was born in North Carolina, was a planter 
in the Richmond district of Virginia and in 1833 removed to Alabama, where practiced law and 
served as county judge of Macon County.  In 1847 he moved to Leon County, Florida.  He served 
as comptroller of public accounts from 1855 to 1860, resigning that office and removing to Pensacola, 
and when the war broke out he went as a refugee to North Carolina with his slaves.  He lost all his 
property and died at Cleveland Springs, North Carolina, at the age of seventy.

Col. THEODORE WASHINGTON BREVARD, Jr., father of Doctor BREVARD of Tallahassee, earned his fame 
as one of the best lawyers of Florida, and had no peer in the state bar as a logical and a compre-
hensive reasoner.  He was born in 1834, and died in Tallahassee at the age of forty-seven.  He was 
a graduate of the law department of the University of Virginia, and he raised and became captain
of the Leon Rifles, mustered into the Confederate service at Gainesville of Company D. of the 
Second Florida Infantry, on July 13, 1862. Later he was transferred to the Eleventh Florida 
Infantry, became its colonel and at the battle of Sailor Creek, Virginia, he was captured by 
General Custer.  For a year he was kept a military prisoner on Johnson's Island, Ohio, and 
before being taken prisoner was promoted to Brigadier General, but never received his commission.  
He was one of the brilliant soldiers of the war whose service is credited to the State of 
Florida.

At Tallahassee, Colonel BREVARD married Miss MARY CALL, daughter of Gen. RICHARD K. CALL.  
Her father fought with Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and in 1824 settled at Tallahassee, 
Florida.  His oldest daughter ELLEN CALL was the first white child born in Leon County, her 
birth occurring September 9, 1825.  RICHARD K. CALL served as territorial Governor from 1836 
to 1839 and again from 1841 to 1844.  He was a charter member of Jackson Lodge of Masons of 
Tallahassee.  His wife was MARY KIRKMAN.  Mrs. MARY CALL BREVARD died at Tallahassee, March 4, 
1920.

Her son,  EPHRAIM MAYS BREVARD, was born at Tallahassee, April 17, 1871, and was educated in 
private schools, in the West Florida Seminary at Tallahassee, and graduated M.D. from the 
University of Maryland in 1894.  In 1895 he removed to Charlotte, North Carolina, and was 
associated in practice with his Uncle Dr. R. J. BREVARD and served as chief surgeon of St. 
Peter's Episcopal Hospital.  During the Spanish-American War, Doctor BREVARD was commissioned 
a Captain in the Medical Corps and served with the Second North Carolina Volunteer Infantry.  
At the close of this service in 1898, he returned to Tallahassee, and since then has been 
continuously on duty as a general practitioner.  He is a member of the State, Southern and 
American Medical Association.  Doctor BREVARD was physician of the Leon County Draft Board 
during the World war.  He is a Royal Arch and Knight Templar Mason, an Elk and a member of 
St. John's Episcopal Church.

At Charlotte, North Carolina, April 23, 1902, Doctor BREVARD married Miss ELIZABETH CAROLINE 
ROBERTSON a native of Winnsboro, South Carolina, and daughter of Gen. THOMAS R. and CORA 
JOHNSTON ROBERTSON.  Her father is still living,  a distinguished North Carolina citizen.  
He was a captain of infantry in the Spanish-American war, subsequently served as Adjutant 
General of North Carolina, and is an attorney by profession.  He has served as postmaster 
of Charlotte, and clerk of court of Mecklenburg County.  Doctor and Mrs. BREVARD became the 
parents of two children:  CORA ROBERTSON, who died June 13, 1921, at the age of nine years; 
and THEODORE WASHINGTON, born September 15, 1914.